The First Ray of Light
by Angie Fundoo
Summary: In order to escape from the destructive powers of the dragon Light, humans have retreated to the Kingdom of Dragons-but for a price. The humans are simply miserable in the Kingdom of the Dragons, and wish for a hero. A young boy named Kao just might be the hero everyone has been praying for.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Long ago, when there was nothing but empty space, the universe chose to create a small burst of light. The light transformed into a huge, glorious being, soon to become the first dragon and the Mother. The universe entrusted her with the power of creation, which the kind-hearted dragon put to use very well. She created a planet, and seeing it was so desolate, added dragons and humans to it. But the dragons were cruel to the humans! The Mother stole the wings of the dragons to cure their pride and honored the humans with the gift of Spinjitzu. All was well with the world of Ninjago."

But as happy as she was with the planet, she soon grew lonely, for she was much too large to converse with those on Ninjago. After contemplating on the subject for many days, she came to the conclusion that children would cure her loneliness. However, she feared that she would seem greedy, so she vowed these children would have a purpose to fulfill in order to keep everything going smoothly on Ninjago."

So she gathered her greatest power and created her children. Each one was different, oh so very different! There was first the eldest, a pure white dragon named Light, who would bring good and light to Ninjago. The second was Darkness, a pure black dragon who would bring evil and darkness to Ninjago. Don't say that was a stupid decision, child! There must always be a balance! Anyways, where was I… oh yes! The children!"

Next came Destiny. My, was she a beauty! Soft cream colored scales with the deepest purple eyes! She was granted the legendary Book of Destiny, to keep track of- yes, son, destinies. After this was Fate- no, fate and destiny are not the same things- then the Keeper of Time, then Ice, Earth, Lightning, and Fire, in that order. Each understood their purpose and served their Mother well."

Until the fateful day, when the Mother… died. The cause of her death still remains a mystery today, but her children were shocked. Light, being the eldest, believed he should be the new king. Shocked by how sudden he was to take charge, the rest of the children refused to listen to him. Light simply shrugged them off and turned to more important tasks- achieving his ambitions."

Light wanted pure good on Ninjago. No evil could roam! Ninjago was full of spite and hate, though, and he blamed it on the humans. He came up with a clever plan. He first created a Kingdom for the Dragons, accessible only through a hidden portal, then simply destroyed Ninjago. The dragons lived, but millions of human lives were lost in a fiery explosion. His brothers and sisters where shocked beyond belief! Light ignored them and created planet after planet, destroying each one as he discovered the evil on each."

Frustrated and tired of the effort, he turned against Darkness, blaming it on him. Darkness argued with his brother that there will always be a balance, and that there was no such thing as pure good. But Light would not listen to Darkness, and a battle broke out between the two. As they fought, the remains of the previous planet began to join together, much to the surprise of the others."

After many years of fighting, it was clear this battle was not easily won, so Light pulled a dirty trick: his spirit left his body to destroy Darkness's body from the inside. Darkness was strong, but this was too much. He gave up, and just as Light (back in his own body) was about to destroy him, Destiny rose up, and with immense strength, struck the brothers apart. The source of her great power was a complete mystery, but she banished her brothers to opposite sides of the universe. The Great Council, as they were known, scattered."

But on the planet that had been created, called Platana, people were hiding in the Dragon Kingdom. In order to avoid death from the destruction of the previous planet, they had struck a deal with the dragons: they would work on what the dragons could not, and the dragons would provide them with a place to live. However, the dragons are harsh, cruel creatures, and the humans are no better off than slaves- and sometimes steal human children. This is why you must stay inside, little Kao."

The small child sitting in the lap of his soft red haired mother yawned. He turned his head to look up at his mother with his big blue eyes. His mother ruffled his almost-white hair.

"Mother," the child nodded. "I love that story. I hope one day we can get Annie and Jacob back. And… be free. With a land just for people!"

Kao yawned and then made a pouty face. "Mother," he whined. "Why did you name me 'Kao'? I don't want to be 'face' for the rest of my life. And Jacob and Annie have regular names."

Kao's mother brushed his face with her hand. "Your face contains so much emotion, Kao. We can't name you anything simple. You deserve this name. Wear it with pride."

Just then, a strong, tall black haired man ran into the room and grabbed Kao. "Who's my little man?" He smiled. Kao shouted back "I am! I'm going to grow up and beat up those filthy dragons who took Annie and Jacob!"

Kao's father set him down and looked at Kao's mother. "Dear," he said, growing worried. "You look tired."

Kao's mother nodded, too tired to argue. "Bedtime for everyone!" His father shouted out. He winked at Kao and Kao winked back, then proceeding to take off in a run towards his bedroom. He would win the falling-asleep race this time!

As sleep closed his heavy eyelids, his dreams filled with images of heroes fallen and heroes rising.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The first rays of sunlight seeped through Kao's window, causing him to grumble, unhappy that his dreams had been interrupted. But all was forgiven as Kao heard his mother calling him. He jumped up and skipped to the kitchen, determined to inform his parents of his dream. Kao leaped onto his rickety wooden chair at their scarred wooden table. He looked around, and his good mood was immediately soiled.

His mother sighed and placed some cooked eggs on a metal plate in front of Kao. "Stop jumping on that chair. It'll break."

Kao frowned. "Mother? Where's father? I wanted to tell you guys something."

His mother planted a kiss on Kao's forehead. "Oh honey, you know he has work, just like everyday. He goes just too early for a little man like you to be up."

Kao frowned. His father was a farmer, just like everyone else in the community. He only knew that because his father told him, because he couldn't leave the house. But he guessed it was okay to stay in their little cottage, because he could still have fun! His mother would teach him things that other children learned in school. Those kids were all in danger of being stolen by the dragons! He knew his parents wanted to keep him safe.

But he couldn't help yearning for the outside. He had been outside once that he could remember. How could she ever forget? He had been playing in front of the house with his younger brother Jacob, when dragons swooped down. His mother had screamed and reached for him and Jacob. While Kao had been in her grasp, all she found when she grabbed Jacob was empty air.

He had been pulled inside and told never to go outside, _ever. _

After Kao had finished gulping down his egg, he placed his plate in the bucket of dishes to be wash, and ran over to his mother. "Mother," he whined. "I want to go outside. Please?"

His mother shook her head and sat down on the big chair. Kao grinned and jumped onto her lap eagerly. "Story time!"

His mother's eyes were clouded with sadness as she spoke. "Remember Annie?" Kao's eyes swam with confusion. "Well… she was also stolen by the dragons… but I wasn't alive then!"

His mother nodded. "Two children lost to our taskmasters is two too many, Kao. We don't need to lose you too…"

Kao pouted. "But Mother…" His face lit up as and idea struck him. "Mother! Next week is my birthday… you know what I want?"

His mother shook her head. "I know what you're going to ask. No! You can't go outside, ever again!"

Kao summoned every ounce of cuteness he had and directed it full force on his mother, no mercy. She sighed and said reluctantly, "I'll talk to your father about it."

Kao bounced up and down on her knee. "Yipee!" He glanced up at his mother and grinned. "Story?"

Clearly relieved to be off the topic of the outdoors, she nodded eagerly. "Okay," she started. "This one is about a brave hero…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Kao waited patiently in the kitchen as his mother and father discussed his birthday present, excitement bubbling inside of him. Being stuck inside was certainly unpleasant, now that he thought of it. Suddenly all the stories and lessons told and taught to him by his mother seemed unappealing. All he wanted was to receive the gift of freedom, along with the smell of the outdoors.

When his parents walked into the room, he leaped up and ran to them, his attitude bubbly and hopeful. To his disappointment, however, when he asked what they decided, all they would say was "Wait and see."

Laying on his bed the night before his birthday, his spirits deflated, he reflected on the reason why he wanted to leave the house so much, why his safe home seemed like a prison.

"I guess when you have something once, then lose it, all you want is to have it back." He stopped and rolled over to stare at the ceiling. "And when you get it, you might find that it wasn't all that you expected." He sat up and wondered aloud "Is this worth it? Will it result in heartbreak for my parents again?"

With these troubles filling his brain, he found it hard to sleep.

_It was a lovely day outside, the sun shining, and the skies clear. Two brothers played in the crisp leaves, laughing and smiling. Their mother watched carefully from the window while washing clothes. _

_ Suddenly, a shadow passed over the sun. The brothers looked up fearfully to see huge armored dragons hovering above them. Their mother yelped and ran outside to grab her sons, but he knew how it would end. After all, he had relived this moment so many times in his nightmare. She would save her eldest son, but the younger would disappear with the dragons. _

_ But this time, he felt deadly, oversized claws wrap around _his _body. Panicked, he watched as his mother realized she was lacking a child. Instead of screaming out, she simply shrugged and turned her head towards him. He expected a reassuring word full of hope, love, and worry, but instead, she shook her head, her eyes cold, and mumbled, "I told him. The outside is no good, but he didn't listen." He willed her to leave. He felt strangely relived as she turned her back on him, but what she said next shattered his heart beyond repair. _

_ "He deserves it." _

Kao shot up in bed, eyes wide as he looked around. He relaxed as he realized he was still in his room. He leapt out of bed and threw on his birthday kimono. He ran into the kitchen, nervous and excited. Would he get his wish? Would it turn out to be a disaster? The smiling faces of his parents, with no gift in hands, only made him worry more. What if his dream came true?

"Kao, we've talked about it and decided-" His mother hesitated. "We'll let you go outside."

Kao cheered, the memories of his nightmare fading away, the excitement of the moment drowning all doubts.

Kao stood at the door, his excitement overwhelming him so much that he ignored the presence of his overprotective parents standing close. He took a breath and slowly, with a shaking hand, reached towards the doorknob. His hand slowly closed on the cold metal, and once he was sure that he had a firm grasp on it, he turned the knob. The heavy wooden door creaked open, bit by bit, until Kao was standing before his greatest dream. He could feel the gentle breeze, carrying the scent of winter with it.

Then he could take it no more.

He leaped into the crisp winter air, not caring that the cold stung his exposed face. He threw himself into the snow, breathing in the smell of the powdered cold. Each sensation he found out here was a new one, bringing a pleasant tingle to his senses. He took a deep breath, tasting the frosty air. His joy was indescribable, his nightmares washed away forever by the cold winter breeze, his will to live a life in hiding frozen and shattered.

But soon, too soon, he felt a gentle hand take his and guide him back to the warmth of the cottage. Too happy to feel sad, all he had to speak of that day and for many days to come was of the joyous, frozen celebration. As he watched the other children through the windows each day, he vowed that soon, he would feel the pleasant outdoor air once again, and never be cooped up in this prison ever again.

He told himself to never stay inside, _ever. _


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

**A/N: This is where it gets interesting…**

Kao peeked into the front room. His mother looked very tired, monotonously knitting a blue sweater for his father. Several times her head fell, eyes closed, and she had to shake herself awake.

It had been a few days after Kao's birthday, and the cause of his mother's worry was very clear: What if her precious son craved more of the rather addicting outdoors? Kao felt guilty knowing that her suspicions had been correct. In fact, he had been waiting for his mother to doze off. He stood in the doorway to the front room, willing for sleep to close his unhappy mother's eyelids.

It had seemed as if several years had passed before the child's hopes were satisfied. His mother was soon snoring, fast asleep in her soft chair. Kao resisted the urge to cheer out loudly of his victory and snuck into the snow, borrowing one of his father's warm knitted sweaters. The snow crunched underneath his furry boots as he ran through the cold white powder. He had no purpose except to enjoy his newfound freedom, ignoring the fact that he was still bound by the chains of his overprotective parents.

Maybe the child's mindset was that if he ran far enough from his cottage, he would be eternally free. Maybe his excitement caused him to be numb to the rest of the world. Maybe he just wanted to run, run as fast as he could in the snow. Maybe it was the guiding tail of Destiny.

Either way, he found himself standing in front of a tall dark forest.

Suddenly lost and scared, the child started to panic. How far had he gone? What should he do? No matter what, he decided, he would not set foot in the forest.

But of course, nothing ever goes as planned! The sun was suddenly blocked out, and a vicious roar filled Kao's ears. The frightened child, in the heat of the moment, ran straight into the place he had vowed to avoid, hoping the dragon would avoid the tall trees.

Once Kao stopped to catch his breath, he realized the gravity of the situation. He was lost in a scary forest, with an equally frightening dragon searching for him. There was nowhere to go but forward, he decided.

_Swish. _A flash of gold hurried past on Kao's left side.

"What was that?" He turned quickly towards the side. _Swish. _Another flash of gold, right behind him. Kao inhaled sharply, fear overpowering his whole body as the head of a golden dragon lunged towards him. Kao wanted to turn and run, but fear held his body in place.

The dragon eyed Kao, and he realized the dragon was smaller than most of those in the kingdom, about the size of a baby dragon; however, this dragon was full-grown!

"Ah. I see. You may be just a simple child, but I know better than to question my aunt." Kao screeched as he heard the dragon speaking.

The dragon cocked his head and looked at Kao questioningly. "Why so much fear? I'm not going to hurt you. Come. Sit down. Relax."

After a moment of hesitation, Kao sat next to the small dragon. The dragon smiled at Kao. "Hello, child. My name is Au. And yours would be…?"

**A/N**: **See what I did there? With the golden dragon's name? Au? Because "Au" is the chemical name for gold on the periodic table? Eh? Eh? Okay, I'll shut up now. **

The child in question looked down at his feet. "It's… it's a silly name. Kao."

Au looked surprised. "No, no, not silly at all! In the ancient language of the Great Council, 'Kao' means 'small hero.' Quite suitable for you."

Kao eyed Au suspiciously. "How do you know about the language of the Great Council? Only the Council members know it!"

Au sighed. "So you believe in the Council?"

Kao's eyes lit up. "Of course! So do my parents. It's one of my favorite stories!"

Au smiled weakly. "There are some things unknown to every animal, things about the Great Council." Au took a deep breath and began. "After the Council scattered, Light and Darkness began concocting ways to get revenge on each other. They were both too weak for another battle. However, they could use their powers to create children… so that's what they did. Darkness created a son, not in his image. I saw him, and boy, is he an ugly thing. Sort of a dull black with shining purple eyes, and a bit chunky. Still, he was a vicious fighter. Since before the Council scattered, Light deemed himself the "Master of All" and Darkness the "Master of Nothing", Darkness named his son the Overlord, if only to get back at his conceited brother. This son was created from pure darkness, with no love. His only purpose was to become a fierce weapon against his brother. Just like Light's son…"

Au looked down at his feet, sorrow plain on his face. Kao gasped as he made the connection. "And you're… the Son of Light?" Au nodded unhappily. "Aunt… so that means Destiny… so Destiny sent me here?" Kao grew excited. "Cheer up, Au! Destiny brought me here, and you obviously have something to do with my destiny!"

Au nodded. "Right. The reason that you are here. Outside of this kingdom, there is a new planet, called Platana. There is land there, but it is not for these people." Au stared at Kao. "All I will say is that you must create the new land. I will not say how, because I know not. I do know, however, that you have the gift of Spinjitzu, something not seen since the time of Ninjago, the first planet."

Kao sat there, his mouth wide open, his eyes glazed, trying to absorb everything he had just been told. Finally he spoke. "So I have some weird power thingy? Awesome! How do I do it?!"

Au placed his tail gently on Kao's small shoulder. "It must be learned through patience and diligence. I will teach you what to do, but you must unlock it yourself, since I am a dragon and cannot perform Spinjitzu. Come here everyday when the sun is at it's highest to learn."

Kao nodded eagerly and jumped up. He turned to leave but reconsidered and bowed to Au. "Thank you, Sensei Au."

Au seemed shocked, but dipped his head back. "You are welcome. I can already tell you will be a great pupil.

Kao skipped off happily, sure that he could make his way back to the cottage without any problems.

Little did the small boy know, he had just taken his first steps onto a path that was vicious, unforgiving, sorrowful, and tough.

He could also never turn back.

It was a huge burden for such a small, innocent child.

He would have to grow up very quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Kao shut the door behind him, shocked to see his mother awake and his father home already. He slowly and awkwardly hung his father's sweater up, smiled weakly, commenced whistling, and walked briskly through the living room. Before he could make it so much as halfway through, his father put out a hand to stop him. "Just where do you think you're going?"

Kao swallowed nervously. What should he say? Well, he certainly couldn't say "Oh hey, I was just out walking and I met a dragon who's going to train me so I can unlock this ancient power that was only ever seen on the planet of Ninjago, which is long gone, and it's my destiny and he's the Son of Light!" Besides, something told him that this should be his secret and his secret alone.

Maybe he should just apologize and give up on his destiny.

Crazy kid. Why would he even _consider_ this as an option?!

But he did neither of those. He realized that his meeting with Au had shown him that there were greater things waiting for him then the cottage. So he did something that he would never have even considered a few days ago.

He voiced his opinion.

"Okay, so I went outside. So what? You know what? I _deserve _to go outside, just like any other normal kid. I know you're worried, but what if I was heavily supervised or something…" Kao stopped, realizing that there was probably nothing he could say to convince his parents.

But his father had been considering what Kao had been saying. "I think that you're certainly old enough to help me with work, son! Everyone else at the farm brings their sons to work. It's good to get familiar with your future job at a young age, eh?"

As his mother and father discussed this, Kao smiled weakly. He didn't want to tell his father that he wouldn't grow up to be a farmer. No, they would all be in a new land…

His thoughts were interuppted by a cheerful exclamation by his father. Kao would come with his father to work every day. Now Kao just had to figure out a way to sneak away….

Destiny. That was the only way to describe how Kao was able to meet Au everyday at sunhigh. Everyday at sunhigh was a break for the children. It was about two hours, since the children were often tired out from the work. As luck would have it-no, as _Destiny _would have it, the farm and the children's rest place were quite close to the forest. Kao would sneak away every day to train with Au, then when the giggles and laughs of the boys faded, Kao would run out to catch up with them. He was a quick learner and patient student, as Au would find.

The imminent events of the future seemed so far off, seemed just as if they were a fantasy.

Until one day, when those events in question would seem ever so closer than before.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The sunlight filtered through the fresh dewy leaves, shining down on a small laughing boy leaning on a resting dragon. The two had decided that Kao had surely earned a break, since he had been training furiously ever since Au had taken him as a pupil.

Kao stood up, his blue eyes shining in the crisp noonday light, the reassuring laughter of the farmers' sons lifting his spirits even more. He turned to Au and smiled. "Sensei Au, did I ever tell you why I wasn't here yesterday?"

Au shook his large head. "No, why?"

"Well," Kao snorted indignantly. "These kids, they're _crazy!_ I mean, this one guy named Bob or Paper Clip or something brought ice cream. But it wasn't even legitimate ice cream! It was _frozen yogurt _or some rip off healthy ice cream stuff. So I started a food fight with it! You should have been there! It was _awesome!" _

Au laughed. "But I'm a dragon; they would runnnnnnnn awaaaaaay!"

The pair started laughing uncontrollably, and for a moment the world seemed perfect.

Kao jumped from the ground to the trunk of a nearby tree. He was quite a distance up, and there were plenty of footholds in the rough bark. He soon felt the leaves scratching against his soft face and saw the moist dirt on the ground. Au was watching him warily, wondering what he was going to do. "Watch this, Sensei! I'm going to jump from this tree to that one!" He gestured to another tree with his head. Au's green eyes widened as he realized the child was getting too cocky.

"Wait!" Au shouted out. "It's too far! You'll fall!" Kao rolled his eyes. "Silly Sensei! How will I ever grow if you don't let me fall?" Au growled, remembering that he had been the one to tell this to Kao. There was nothing he could do, so he laid back down on the rocky ground to watch his excited pupil.

Kao bunched his muscles and took a flying leap. His eyes slowly closed as he left the branch and time seemed to slow down as he willed himself to make it, knowing full well that if he fell, he would break a few bones. He wondered how he would explain it to his parents, how much he would lose just because he wanted to impress his Sensei. He felt a sudden jolt in his bones and the world fell silent, the only sound in his ears that of the wind whipping by. He opened his eyes in fright, wondering if he was dead, and all he saw was a wall of gold obscuring his vision. Realizing he couldn't just rely on sight, he focused all his other senses on the outside. He sensed the branch and headed towards it, his feet finally landing on the thick sturdy branch and his vision clearing up.

He looked down to see Au staring up at him, mouth gaping open. "You-you-you did it! You-you unlocked your Spinjitzu powers!" Au reached up to snag Kao out of the tree and wrap him in a tail-hug.

Kao smiled at his Sensei and then proceeded to yawn tremendously. Au laid down and placed Kao under his wing protectively and, after getting comfortable on the hard forest floor, fell into a deep sleep.

The warm light of day soon faded into the gentle dark of night, the full moon illuminating the peaceful scene in the forest, hidden from all intrusions.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The morning light shone down on a lone boy, slowly waking up from a peaceful slumber. Kao yawned and stretched, letting the light warm him. He smacked his lips and looked around with droopy eyes at the morning dew on the crisp green leaves.

He stood up and touched the leaves, if only to see if they could possibly be real, before the realization dawned on his that there seemed to be an unfortunate lack of cottage. The boy whipped his head around frantically, searching for his sensei, but Au was no where to be found.

The panicked child remembered something Sensei Au had told him long ago: If you find yourself in a desperate situation, the best thing you can do is think. Kao took a deep breath and instantly regretted not telling Au that he couldn't be out all night.

Kao spotted a set of tracks. Since the middle toe on the left foot was missing, the tracks obviously belonged to his sensei. The curious and desperate child followed the deformed feet through thick clumps of thorns, unprotected stretches of short grass, and trees full of aggressive birds perfectly content to peck and unexposed head until it was squishy and bleeding until he came upon a large clearing of tall grass.

"Sensei!" Kao ran towards the golden dragon, only to feel his relief melting into horror. Au was bleeding in several places, standing in an aggressive pose, aimed towards three massive black bloodstained dragons.

But not just any massive black bloodstained dragons. The rouge dragons that Sensei Au had warned him about, wanted for murder, child-stealing, and several other terrible crimes. He had come to the conclusion that they had been the ones responsible for the kidnapping of his brother and sister.

Kao trembled as he realized who Au was ferociously attempting to protect: his parents. Without thinking, Kao scrambled over to meet his parents, catching the eyes of the rouges.

"Oh ho ho! What do we have 'ere?" The biggest one cackled.

"Eh… looks like food to meh, Shade." The next dragon, whose face was full of scars, snarled.

"Why dontcha shut yer trap, Scar?" The smallest one barked. "Dontcha be talking in front of da food!"

"What would ya know, Squirt?" Shade growled. "You ain't da leader of this 'ere team."

Squirt snorted. "I'll take care o' da leetle people. Ya guys might a'well take care a the gold coin. I know dat he's a gonna fall soon. Yup, da leetle ones don't last so long." Squirt lifted himself up with his tremendous wings and spiraled down towards Kao and his family. They desperately fled from the spinning death trap, who immediately landed next to them.

"Awwww, whatsa matter, leetle people? I ain't gonna hurt'cha… er wait… yesh I am!" Squirt started laughing manically and plucked both of Kao's parents up with two of his large claws and hung them over a raging gorge. "Ha leelte people. Guess whatell happ'n? I drop 'em and you try 'n save 'em but ya die too!" Before Squirt could plunge the two squirming adults into certain doom, Au flung himself out of the battle with Scar and Shade and towards Squirt. He knocked him away from the gorge, but Squirt dropped Kao's parents in surprise.

Kao ran to the edge of the gorge to find his parents clutching on to a branch for dear life. "Save them!" Au screamed as three vicious dragons lunged towards him. "And whatever you do, don't look back!"

Kao swallowed and grabbed his mother's hand, and with a massive amount of effort, pulling her up slowly. He heard squeaks and thumps behind him and felt tempted to turn his head, but instead helped his father up.

A triumphant roar could be heard for miles around. Kao slowly turned around, fearing the worst, knowing it was inevitable. Still, he denied what he knew to be true and called out to Au.

He found himself leaning against his sensei, crying out. The world seemed to disappear, just a blur of movement. His parents were being attacked by rogues, and all he could do was cry? He cried out to Au, calling his name, wiping away the blood, hoping he would come back.

Kao felt a sudden rush of rage and power, rising up in a fiery gold explosion, causing everyone present to stop. (If the royal guards weren't already alerted by the roar, this surely caught their attention!)

Shade, Scar, and Squirt shrunk down, watching this small child, eyes glowing, floating in the air, speak to them in a loud roar.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE YOU HAVE KILLED THE SON OF LIGHT ALL THE RAGE OF LIGHT THE FIRST BORN OF THE GREAT MOTHER SHALL BE UPON YOU!"

Kao's parents and the rogues shrunk down as the great golden spirit of Au shot forward, striking down the black dragons. They lay on the ground, bleeding, twitching, and whimpering piteously. The spirit faded away and Kao closed his eyes and started to fall. Kao's father, finally recovering his senses, rushed over to catch his son.

The boy opened his eyes to stare at his parents. "Mother? Father? Am-am I a-a-alive?"

His mother nodded and stroked his cheek. "It's okay. You're alright. Don't worry…"

Kao's eyes widened and he shot up out of his father's arms. "Sensei Au! He's hurt! We have to help him!"

His father's eyes grew stern. "He's dead, little man. And you've got a lot of things to explain. Come on."

The rogues whimpered even louder as the royal guard, dressed in shining, thick armor, descended on the clearing. Kao's parents shooed him away quickly, and the trio walked through the forest lit by the bright noon sun towards the comfort of their cottage.

But Kao couldn't help but look back at the clearing with a spiteful gaze. He would avenge Sensei Au's death. This wasn't over.

It was _far _from over.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 **

The events of the previous day still haunted him, and he felt as if he might be doomed to suffer in silence. His lips would try to form words, but no sound would come out. The shock of everything seemed as if it would stay with him for the rest of his life. His parents had barraged him with questions that he had been unable to answer.

And now he was being dragged to the Royal Castle for a meeting called by the DRAGON KING HIMSELF. The field in front of the castle was full of dead grass, burned several times by the shenanigans of the royal guards with a few patches of green grass poking up here and there. As the deep red dragon whose gigantic size alone made all other dragons tremble in fear emerged out of the even larger castle, Kao stood staring off into space, completely unfazed. When the KING started talking in HIS KINGLY ROAR, Kao refused to change his expression, just stare vacantly, standing in between his parents.

Only when his father nudged him and whispered to him that the KING was talking about the rogues did Kao snap back to reality and started to listen intently.

"Dear humans," and at this Kao rolled his eyes, "you are gathered here today to witness the punishment of a few… _horrible _creatures." HIS MIGHTINESS smirked at the crowd. "The Dark Rogues have been caught!" The crowd cheered, drowning out HIS MIGHTY ROAR. "Hush!" He screeched. The crowd immediately stopped their joyful exultation. "The Rogues have also revealed that there were a few others involved." Kao cringed and glanced at his parents, looking equally frightened. "But the most notable ones were our worst enemy, the blasphemous Golden Dragon, who, by the way, was killed, and a strange child who seemed to be associated with him…"

Kao gulped and felt a cold sweat start to drip down his face. His hands trembled and he felt the urge to run far, far, _far, _away. "Now who is it, Shade? Show me this evil child!" Shade grinned a nasty grin and extended an oversized claw towards Kao. The crowd separated to make it clear who he was pointing to.

"Hear me!" The KING growled. "The rogues may have been bad, but this child is our worst threat! He is now banished, exiled from the Kingdom! He should be killed on sight!" The crowd murmured and slowly, everyone started to nod their heads. Kao's father looked at him sadly. "Here," he mumbled, handing him a satchel. "Take this…"

Kao angrily snatched it out of his father's hand. "So not even my own _parents _are going to stand up for me? Fine! You'll see!" Kao raised his voice. "You'll all see! I'll show you! All of you! And as for you, big hunk of scales," he pointed towards the king, "you and your fancy titles can go die in the deepest pits of the darkest corners of the Dark Worlds!"

Kao stomped away angrily from the astonished crowd, not even bothering to look back at his sobbing mother and sorrowful father. His life was different now. He was on his own. No one cared.

_I care. _Kao turned, only to see nothing. _And believe me when I say that your parents definitely care too. _

Kao nodded. _Well, Sensei, looks like it's just me and you now. _

_ Mostly you though, I regret. _

_ Wait, what do you mean?! Don't leave me alone! _Kao desperate plea was met with silence. 

Kao sighed and continued on his long journey of destiny.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Gah! Sorry for not posting, my computer was having severe issues and I couldn't write. So here's Chapter 9, Enjoy! **

**Chapter 9**

Little did Kao know, a thousand years before on the very day he was banished, a different banishing took place…

His eyes grew darker and darker as he remembered his banishing. It was the thousand year anniversary, and he would be celebrating by thinking gleefully of all the ways he could get revenge on his father. He could remember everything as clear as if it had happened just yesterday…

_The floorboards of the dark palace creaked as the small, black, ugly dragon stepped carefully across the floor. He had woken just a few minutes earlier, eager to succeed. The dragon advanced towards a large door and used his tail to slowly open it to reveal his sleeping father. _

_ Purple eyes swept across the huge throne room. On the right side was a tall black square cliff in which a massive black dragon was sleeping peacefully. The cliff dropped off from a deadly height into what seemed like an abyss, but turned out to be a floor shrouded with shadows once you fell to your demise._

_ He moved to stand over his father and bared his teeth, preparing to tear his throat out. He lunged in for the kill, but his father had awoken and jumped back just in time. _

_ "Overlord? What are you doing?!"_

_ The Overlord snarled at Darkness, his father. "You're weak! I know it! You just trained me so you could become stronger against uncle. I'm stronger than you. I will be the new Darkness!" The Overlord threw his head back and laughed manically. Darkness growled and launched himself at his son. The Overlord sunk his teeth into his father's back. His father slapped the Overlord with his tail. _

_ The fight didn't last long, as Darkness had experience and size on his side. They both came out of the battle bleeding, torn, and panting. Darkness eyed his bloodthirsty son and began to speak. _

_ "Son, you are clearly no good for me. You have attempted to kill Darkness in order to become him." Darkness turned his head away. "I have no choice but to banish you to the barren world of Platana. You might find land, but your wings will not let you touch that land until after a thousand years." He turned towards the Overlord, an angry look in his eyes. "Goodbye."_

_ The tattered dragon felt himself falling, falling, until his wings spread out and he started to fly without thinking. It was as if his wings were moving by themselves._

_ And so he flew, longing to land, for a thousand years, but _now he could land! A thousand torturous years had passed, and it was time for him to get his revenge. He scanned the ocean, spotting a small patch of land with two ancient buildings side by side in front of a mountain range with land surrounding it for a few miles on all sides. The Overlord landed, and as he did, a portion of the land turned dark.

"Now," the Overlord growled. "I need something, something that can defeat Darkness himself… something indestructible…" the grew impatient quickly, and summoning all his strength, fiercely whacked the darkened stone he had been sitting on, fully intending to break it in his frustration. He screeched as he felt a cracking in his toes. Looking down ready to spit and hiss at whatever had done that, he felt surprise wash over him to see the stone completely unharmed . "Hmmm…" He grinned.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

A burning yellow orb shone down into the inferior body below, providing life to all, nurturing the small fresh green shoots and preventing the planet from freezing over into everlasting winter, among other things. All those living thanked the massive star for its kindness.

But for one small child trying to cool off, the sun was a bit annoying. Sweat poured down the boy's neck as he trudged through the soaking forest, feeling that any moment now he would drown. He kept his blue eyes focused on the moist ground, brushing past the rough bark of the trees without acknowledging they were there.

So when he walked headfirst straight into a tree, he was pretty mad. He growled and looked up, only for his anger to be swept away in a mere second. It was an apple tree! All this time, he had been walking through an apple orchard!

"Ha!" He laughed and began to climb the tree. Once he had his prize, he sat in the tree, his balance perfect. His mouth began to water as he studied the shiny red fruit, and he could take it no longer. The apple soon felt the pain of small white teeth slowly biting into its fresh skin. The boy nearly fell off the tree as the juicy taste hit his taste buds with a shock. Each bite was refreshing and heavenly.

A small gasp escaped his mouth as he bit his hand and realized the apple was gone. Grumbling, he reached for another apple to satisfy his immense hunger. Just as he was about to lunge in to begin the feast, a high-pitched voice dripping with annoyance sharply interrupted him.

"Whaddya think you're doing?!" He turned to see a boy about his age with short black hair and deep brown eyes staring at him.

He leaped down from the tree and put on a huge smile. "Hi! I'm Kao, and I'm… new here, I guess you could say. Who are you?"

The boy snorted and took the apple from Kao rather rudely. "Listen, _Kao, _I don't play around. This is my uncle's apple orchard, and we can't be having silly thieves!" The apple boy sniffed and pushed Kao ahead. "Come with me. Uncle won't be very pleased!"

Fear suddenly flooded over Kao. "No! Don't take me to your uncle!" The apple boy glared at Kao and pushed him along. "You're going to pay for what you did."

"But I only ate one apple!" Kao protested, but to no avail. He was going to see Uncle apple, whether he liked it or not.

The boy shoved Kao roughly into his uncle's home. "Uncle! I'm home, and guess who I found? A little boy named _Kao _sneaking around, eating apple!"

The boy's uncle emerged out of the kitchen and growled at him. "Kokoro, you're supposed to be at home, harvesting mangoes with your parents. What are you doing here with him?" Kokoro shrunk under his uncle's harsh words. "Well, Uncle… I just sort of… wanted to visit you, you see, I hate mangoes!"

Kokoro's uncle grabbed him by the wrist and threw him outdoors. He then turned to Kao and proceeded to do the same, except he threw him into a dark room and locked it.

Kao pressed his ear to the thick wood door so he could hear Kokoro's uncle hiss. "I'll take Kokoro home… then I'll deal with you…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**A/N: Sorry this took sooooooo long, but I was taking a break since my summer started. I'll get to posting the chapters faster, but as a warning, I'm going to Alaska to see my grandparents for a month, so updates may be slower, but I'll still try to get them up as fast as they can. Enjoy!**

His heart beat loudly in his chest, threatening to break his ribs. The darkness seemed to suffocate the child trembling on the floor. Each second that the apple farmer was gone was a thousand screams ringing in his ear as his imagination went wild, creating bloodthirsty monsters hiding behind him, ready to devour him. Kao snapped his head around as the front door creaked open, and he heard loud footsteps tromping indoors, followed by an angry door slam. A key was shoved into the rusty lock, and after a long period of violent cursing, the wooden door opened to reveal the tall apple farmer looking down on the child.

The farmer was hissing and spitting unrecognizable phrases at the frightened child, his face growing redder every second. It wasn't until Kao had let out a desperate squeak that the farmer was able to properly communicate, but after Kao had had his ears bombarded by the vicious words of the farmer, he decided that an eternity of undeterminable noises from the man would have been better than having his soul sliced into microscopic pieces by the knifes thrown from the farmer's mouth.

"So, _Kao, _thought you could get away with stealing my apples?! Those fruits are my _life! _Even my nephew prefers the sweet, crispness of _my _apples over those… _mangoes…_" The farmer slowly spit out the word as if making a point to his grandmother that these pastries were undeniably distasteful.

Suddenly, the farmer's blackened, chapped lips curled into a heart crushing sneer. "It's Kao, isn't it? I know who you are. News travels fast to these little farming communities, silly boy." He chortled and reached to his side, extracting a small, astonishingly sharp and clean dagger and inspected it, watching the frozen boy from the corner of his eye.

"You see, Kao, us farmers don't _appreciate_ silly kids running through our fields, eating our produce." He turned towards Kao and leaned in closer. "Especially dirty little _exiles _like you." The farmer backed away and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. "According to the rules, I can and am supposed to…" (And here, Kao noted, he stopped, probably just for dramatic effect. Or something.) "Kill you on sight."

Kao frowned, knowing very well that his life was, for the most part, in the callused hands of the farmer. If he attempted Spinjitzu, he would certainly escape, but then the farmer would panic and spread around this information, thus making him even more feared and hunted. Fighting back physically would result in the farmer acknowledging him as a threat and strike back in self defense, and fear was consuming his thoughts so confusing the farmer with words was almost impossible in his current state. His best bet would be just to hope that the farmer wouldn't hurt a "defenseless" child and see what happened next.

"Of course I wouldn't hurt a defenseless child, though." Kao breathed a sigh of relief and trained his eyes on the dagger the farmer was putting back into its sheathe.

The farmer's brown eyes lit up. "But I do need someone to work here. It's not easy taking care of this apple orchard all by myself!" Kao groaned as the farmer roughly snatched his soft hand and yanked him into the front room to shove farmer's clothes into Kao's arms. He motioned towards an empty room and Kao reluctantly walked into the room and exchanged his dirty kimono for the durable clothes.

"Apples…apples…apples…" Kao hissed under his breath. "Applesssssssssssssss…"

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! New chapter on Monday, then Tuesday, and Wednesday, but after that I'll be heading to Alaska and the updates will be slower. But don't worry, after this story is done, I have a nice long series to write… **


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Kao studied his dirty hands, lost in thought, as he stepped back from the wooden bucket of shining red fruits. The relaxing, warm sun beating down on his neck only encouraged his departure from reality. It would appear to any random bystander that the child saw his hands as extremely fascinating and deeply thought provoking, then they would simply roll their eyes, mumble to themselves about kids not being raised right these days, and stroll off.

However, he wasn't interested in his hands, but rather he was musing over the last few years. Unfortunately, they had passed by too quickly for his liking. Kao had realized he had rather enjoyed living in the little shack with Ringo, as he had soon discovered his name was. He had soon become a second father to him.

_And a darn better father than mine was. _Kao thought bitterly as he snapped back to reality.

A shocked voice rang in his ears. _Don't say that about him! _

Kao snorted and rolled his blue eyes. _Sensei, you know just as well as me that my parents did nothing to stop the dragon king from exiling me. Instead my father just handed me this useless satchel and started crying. _

He ignored the angered protests from Au and instead bent down to pick up the bucket and turned around, walking as fast as he could back to the sturdy shack with the heavy apples in tow. He stepped inside, wincing as the floorboards, covered up by a worn knitted rug, creaked under his tired feet.

"I think that should be the last of the harvest," Ringo walked in to the front room and took the bucket from Kao. "You worked hard, as usual. Go wash up. Dinner will be ready soon."

Kao headed into his room, dreading the imminent sorrow ahead.

_A-HEM. _A loud and rather impatient voice coughed in Kao's ear as he slipped into his cozy kimono.

_Sensei. _Kao's voice dripped with agitation mixed with regret.

_You know what you must do… _

_I know, I know. But my life has been so much better ever since I came here! Why must I go?_

_ It is _destiny, _foolish child. Have I taught you nothing? _

Ringo looked up at the tanned child approaching the small table cautiously. As he sat down, he nodded politely. "Meat today. I enjoy it…" Ringo cocked his head and stared at Kao. "Is something bothering you? I mean… you seem so distant lately…"

Kao forced an unhappy smile and began picking at his dinner. "Please, child, tell me what's wrong! I can't stand to see you so distant and sad…"

The child straightened up and dropped his fork. "Ringo, do you believe in Destiny and Fate and Light and Darkness and stuff?"

Ringo scratched his head, which was covered in a thin layer of deep brown hair. His matching eyes met Kao's and he exhaled loudly. "Not quite sure I follow you."

"Like… you know…" Kao started to mumble softly. "The… Council…"

"What?"

"THE COUNCIL!" Kao screamed, and an awkward silence followed immediately.

A tarnished metal spoon fell slowly from Ringo's hands. "Y-y-y-yes… I never thought that anyone b-b-besides me d-did though…"

Kao took a deep breath and calmly began to speak. "The last few years have been great. I've grown really close to you and realized that there is much more to apple farmers than just apples. There is also more to me. The Son of Light has trained me. You saw how useful my Spinjitzu has been in apple harvesting…" Kao swallowed a lump of guilt in his throat as he realized Ringo had never seen him perform Spinjitzu as he saw the astonished look on his face at the mention of the long dead art, but he kept talking. "And it is my destiny to go on a journey… to create a new land for the people trapped under the rule of the cruel dragons!"

He looked up to see Ringo's head hanging down, staring at his half-eaten food. "I-I don't understand…" Ringo watched as the boy leaped up. "I'll show you. I'll give you proof. I don't want to leave, trust me, but I have to. I promise I'll create plenty of apple orchards…" Ringo's eyes grew wide as he saw the child create a miniature tornado of gold.

Sorrowful blue eyes met equally sad dark brown eyes. "I still don't understand… but I trust you…" Ringo looked away and closed his eyes. "I can give you some apples to carry and a couple changes of clothes."

The blonde boy got up reluctantly, about to get ready to leave, before a rough, warm, kindly hand reached across to grab his arm and pull him down. "But please, before you go, eat your dinner. It's getting cold, and good food is never good cold."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**A/N: Got busy yesterday. Going on vacation today. **

_ No. You're the one who doesn't understand. Being the oldest, I am also the wisest, and I know more than you claim to. _

_Listen to me, brother! Your destruction has gone on long enough. We have come here to stop you and your murderous ways!_

_ Shut up! I'll tear you to pieces!_

_ Stop. You two need to stop. We'll never get anywhere if you kill each other._

_ Destiny, you have no say in the matter. This is between me and Darkness!_

_ I promised myself I wouldn't step in and just be here for support, but now I realize I have to do something. Light, we are all prepared to fight you, do you realize that? You may be the oldest and strongest, but will all of us against you, do you really think you can beat us? _

_ Hmph. We can't reach any decision without all of us here, Ice. Since I don't see Time anywhere… _

_ Light… don't. We came to talk to you but now it's clear that this is going to get ugly. _

_ Don't do anything you'll regret later. _

_ LIGHT! I've had enough of this. _

_ Oh, look at this. Little sis trying to tell me what to do. Ha!_

_ You know just as well as we do that she's extremely important!_

_ Not if I create the perfect world!_

_ That will never happen!_

_ Light… Light, NO! We don't need a fight!_

_ Stand back, wimps. I'm going to teach Darkness a lesson!_

_ Um… I think I'll just wait over here…_

_ But Lightning! We need you!_

_ Everyone else is going to avoid the fight as much as they possibly can. I'd advise you to do the same, if you know what's good for you._

_ Whatever happened to sticking together?! Mother wouldn't want this!_

_ Destiny… Mother isn't here. Now come sit._

_ Sigh… fine…_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Walking takes a long time," came the complaint from the sweaty child. "I wish I had a dragon to ride on. Then I wouldn't have to do any work. Not like any of the dragons here would let me ride them though."

_What? _Kao's whiny words received a quizzical look from the spirit dragon walking next to him. _Ride dragons? Why would you ever do something like that?_

_ Ugh, Sensei, you're old. You should know that people used to ride dragons. _

_ Sorry, I do not know anything about the old world. I was merely a weapon. My father did not love me, so I did not learn anything under his care._

_ Oh. _Kao grew silent, regretting his words. His eyes wandered towards the setting sun, reminding him of so many setting suns in the past. The past… it seemed so long ago! How long had he been walking away from a life that could have shielded him from the world, one that could have kept Destiny away? He sighed as memories flooded in, regret filling his heart. _Destiny, why must you be so cruel to me? I'm so young!_

_ You left today, Kao. And my aunt is the kindest of the Council you will ever find. Most are cruel and heartless. She sympathizes with the humans. Otherwise they would never find a new home. _

"Augh!" Au snorted as Kao growled. "Stop it! Just stay out of my thoughts, okay?!"

Silence filled both Kao's ears and thoughts as the golden mist that formed the dragon disappeared. He pursed his lips and shook his head, treading forward in the dirt without Au. His rough hand slid onto the leather satchel his father had handed to him. Why had he kept it when he had been so angry at his father? Maybe it was important.

"I've never opened it…" Kao whispered as he undid the silver latch keeping the satchel closed. Hands carefully fell into the brown inside, landing on something cold. Curious, Kao wrapped his fingers around the handle and brought it out of the bag. What he held in front of his face shocked him as he lifted the brown sheathe carefully off the top. He was clutching a shiny cold golden handle with a long sharp golden blade to match the handle. A note written on thick browned parchment was tied to the handle with thick string. Shaking hands untied the rough string and placed it in the bag before unfolding the note and bringing it up to his face. The faded words written in his father's handwriting stood out to him clearly.

_Kao,_

_If you are in possession of this letter, you are most likely in possession of the gold-dipped diamond knife, and also most likely in possession of my leather satchel. If you are in possession of the leather satchel, then something bad has probably happened. You see, I created this satchel in case of an emergency. In here you will find things to help you survive on your own. Right after you were born, I started having weird dreams in which you were still a child, but facing things that no children had to face. I knew it was Destiny, and that I could not stop it. I hope you don't hate me for anything that I do. I just don't want to- well, _can't _mess with Destiny. _

_ With Love,_

_ Your Father_

Tears sprung to his blue eyes as he finished the letter. This piece of parchment explained what had been gnawing at his heart for the last few years: why did his parents do nothing? The pale light of the setting sun shone on his wet face as he stared forward, a weak smile sneaking its way onto his face.

"Father… Mother… you are forgiven. I love you." His soft voice grew stronger as confident words flew from his mouth, and for a moment, his high-pitched young voice sounded deep, old and wise. "I love you! And I will not let you down! Platana, here I come!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 **

So many years passed in such a short time, it seemed. Every day was routine and boring, so why did time seem to fly by so quickly? Was it really so interesting to, every day, walk into some small village concealed by a black hooded cloak from a magic satchel, steal food and some coins (apparently money and food wasn't part of an emergency kit) only to be chased out by angry villagers? Of course, over time, he had gotten better at this, and now he could pass in and out of the villages without ever being noticed. For his own safety, he would never spend too much time in the towns. His nights were spent in any nearby forests (there were plenty of forests in the human part of the Dragon Kingdom) munching on his stolen food and sleeping in the trees to avoid detection.

Sparkling moonlight filtered through the trees, a beautiful sight to see if you weren't lying on the top of a large tree, biting at a piece of bread, so much nervousness filling your mouth that your meal tasted bland with one hand while anxiously fingering the golden knife in your pocket with the other, which was exactly what Kao was doing right now. His nervousness was not from, or in any part from, guilt. No, he had gotten over that a long time ago. He stole to survive, and there was no room for guilt when it was a matter of survival. When trying to survive, you can't care if you killed that guy you stabbed with your knife as you where getting away, as Kao had learned, for he had had to use that knife many times before. And yet it was still clean and shiny, for each night he would wash and dry his weapon so not a trace of blood was left.

Although he had hardly ever been caught at night in the forest, he was always alert. He could have no moments of weakness, or he would die. Ever since that fateful day when he was young, he had been a loner, even if he didn't want to face it. A loner he was, and as long as he was on this quest, a loner he would always be. He had accepted that fact long ago. And hey, after all, he had Au's companionship, right?

But he still felt lonely.

A heavy sigh attracted the spirit of his sensei, who peered over at Kao, who was watching a smiling couple walk along the moonlit path, holding hands. As he snuck up closer to look at Kao from the front, he noticed a longing in his eyes. Au frowned and made himself visible to Kao. _Kao. Something is bothering you. _

Kao shut his eyes tight and growled. _Leave me alone, Au. I'm not in the mood. _

Au blinked at Kao's harsh tone. _You say that all the time. It seems that as the years go by, we grow further apart. Remember the old days? _

Warm memories of an innocent childhood rushed back and a smile snuck its way onto the young adult's face. _Yeah, those were really the days, Sensei. _He wished he could sink into the warmth of the memories, and never come back to the biting cold of reality. We've all wanted to do that before, unfortunately, it never lasts long.

A gunshot fired and the sharp pain of a bullet lodging itself into Kao's skinny leg quickly brought him back to the present. Kao gasped and shot up, not caring that his half-finished bread had fallen to the leafy ground. Not thinking properly, he grabbed the knife from his pocket and leaped down from the tree, sending a shock of pain throw his bleeding leg. The group of soldiers holding rifles considered him with wide eyes before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

"Bwa haha! Does he really think that little dagger is going to do any harm?"

"Has he never seen a rifle before?"

"Stupid!"

Kao swallowed and dropped the dagger into his pocket. He hated being laughed at… but at least it was buying him some time. _Hey, Au! _Au stared at Kao. _Well? Don't just stand there! Do something! _The golden spirit shook his head, laughing a little bit. _I'm dead. I can't do anything! _

_Ugh! _The bleeding man was furious now. _Shoot golden fire at them! Call upon your aunts and uncles! I don't know! Just do something, you worthless piles of sparkling dust! _

The "worthless pile of sparkling dust" looked furious now. _Excuse me?! I saved your parents _and _you! Read my lips, disrespectful student: I. Am. DEAD. _

_No you're not! _Kao spat out desperately, not thinking properly, the laughing of the rifle-wielding farmers clogging his brain.

At this, he received a glare from Au's green eyes.

Suddenly, the laughing stopped and the hairiest farmer stepped up to face the much younger man. "You da one who's been stealin' all ar' foods?"

A small, fat farmer walked up to stand next to the much stronger, taller farmer and gave a sharp nod to Kao. "Ya ar', don' be denyin' now, son. We gon' tear ya 'part, so I recker mend ya jus' give up."

Something was hauntingly familiar about these farmers, and to add to the suspicion, the next farmer to come stand next to the tallest farmer was a slightly smaller than the first, mean looking middle-aged man with _a face full of scars. _

"I know et's 'em, Sha-" The tall man he had been addressed smacked him across the face and hissed a little too loudly: "Ya gunna blow ar' cova, Scar, ya idiat!"

Everyone, including the tall farmer, froze. Scar? Sha-? Hardly understandable accent? Tall, muscular leader? Fat and short group member? Scar-faced man named Scar?

No one could form the words, much less get them out of their mouths. The forest was silent except for the hissing remark aimed at the horrified Shade from Squirt. "Nice goin', boss. Ya jus' tol' ever' one who we ar'.

The first one to regain their wits was the smartest (living) creature there: Kao. For he hadn't been standing openmouthed in shock, no, he had been formulating a simple yet cunning plan to get out of this rather sticky (and painful) situation. He had to move fast, because soon enough, these farmers would regain their wits.

So, what was his "simple yet cunning" plan?

I bet you're dying to know.

It was to yell at the top of his lungs: "IT'S THE ROUGE DRAGONS THEY'VE ESCAPED AND NOW THEY'RE HUMANS AGH WE HAVE TO KILL THEM!" and then run around wildly in circles with his blue eyes bulging out." Which is exactly what he did. And it worked. Before anyone could say "That blonde guy is an exile and you should kill him" all the normally human farmer had dropped their rifles and were now screaming at the rouge humans while the rouges were struggling to get away.

But the mastermind behind this plan had no problem running off. He took off running at an extremely fast speed (it comes from the years of practice) and even with the bleeding leg, he was able to outrun the rogues, who had slipped away from the squirming group and had transformed into dragons. But they were fast, and it took a while to loose them. The moon still smiled down at him, but the beautiful colors of the sunrise were just beginning to peek over the horizon. A panting Kao stopped after a long run, made even longer when he went just farther to ensure his safety from those rogues, at least for the time being. He took a gulp of air and leaned against a smooth stone building, running his fingers through his roughly dagger-cut blonde hair. After catching his breath, he stood up to observe his surroundings.

_Ah, Sensei. I'm in luck. This seems to be a nice little rich village. _

As he turned around, quite confident in himself, ready to go find a place to hide until the village awoke, he heard a silky and dangerous voice in front of him. A tall, slender figure who had also been leaning against the tall sturdy building stepped out of the shadows. Kao swallowed as he saw that she was casually swinging a dagger in her fingers. He slowly reached for his own…

The light caught on her face, and finally Kao could see her clearly. Her long honey colored hair was untied, loosely strewn over her back and shoulders. She was wearing a loose purple shirt with loose black pants, and when she looked up from her dagger-swinging, her dark violet eyes_ (that's not something you see every day, _he thought), were full of curiosity and amusement, which was so much more preferable than full of murder and hate. In fact, he was so overcome with relief that the words she had just spoken didn't even make a mark in his memory until she repeated it much louder.

"YO DUDE, WHO ARE YOU AND WHY SHOULDN'T I KILL YOU?!"

"Agh!" He jumped, falling flat on his face as he tripped over a rock that hadn't been there before.

The purple eyed girl giggled. "I don't know how that got there!"

"Sure…" Kao grumbled as he got up and dusted himself off and tried to look dignified again. He eyed her and snorted. "You aren't that mature for your age, are you?"

She shrugged. "I don't care. I can be immature if I want." She grinned. "And my parents sure don't like it either, which is a plus."

Kao's eyes closed just for a minute. _I would give anything to be back with my parents again. _"You're out pretty late. And I'm guessing those aren't pajamas either."

"Ugh. You really don't have any place to talk, now do you? You're out this late too. Besides, I'm pretty sure by now it's early." She grunted. "I like the night. Everyone's asleep and I can be who I want to be." A twinkle in her eyes told him that her connection to the night was something much more serious than just tromping around in it to escape the world, but before he could say anything, she continued with a pouty face. "I mean, during the day I have to act like some dumb princess but I'm really not, I'm just the oldest daughter of my rich dad-" She stopped as she caught sight of Kao's bloody pant leg and hole. "Oh dear. Gunshot?"

"Yeah…"

Her giggly smile turned into a more comforting and hospitable smile and she held out her hand to him. "Hey. I'm Zia. Zia Divites. I'm sure my father wouldn't mind if you spend a few days here; you look absolutely awful. How about you?"

His taut face melted into a grateful smile as he accepted her outstretched hand. "Kao Montgomery." He paused, fearful. "Have-have you ever heard of me?"

"No. Should I have?"

"Well…"

"Ah, we're so close to Platana that we don't get much news. C'mon, Kao!"

_She knows about Platana? Oof! _Apparently Zia wasn't the type to stand around, so she yanked Kao's hand and practically and effortlessly pulled him into the mansion.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The mattress was soft, and the covers were silky. He had been washed up, his wound properly taken care of, and his warm pajamas were very comfortable, so it was no wonder that, although the town was stirring, he fell asleep almost immediately. It was morning already, but the white door had been closed, the velvet curtains shut, and the lights on the tall ceiling switched off, so nothing was there to bother him. For the first time in many years, he felt secure and his sleep was untouched by dreams.

When he felt himself being awoken by a violent shaking, he protested loudly and with lots of grumbles, but it didn't matter how much he groaned, for he was quickly torn out of his comfortable sleep. Tired eyes opened slowly and with much effort to a dark room. As his eyes adjusted to the blackness, he could make out the eager face of Zia, nudging him urgently. Her violet eyes were focused on him, sending him a message that he needed to get up. The cold chill of fear filled his body, and he sprung up, all sleepiness lost.

"What?! What is it, Zia?!"

Zia pressed her index finger to her lips. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Oh. Okay." Kao lowered his voice to a whisper and threw the covers off of his body so he could get up. "What's the emergency?"

She said nothing, but only motioned for him to follow her, with her finger still on her lips. Although there was a thousand questions bouncing around in his mind right now, Kao kept silent and snuck away with Zia. He kept his eyes trained on Zia, for if he lost her, he would be lost in this labyrinth. As soon as he felt the cold rush of the night air, he contemplated running back, but decided against it and reluctantly followed Zia. After a while, he started to get nervous. Where were they? Finally they stopped.

"Sit." Zia patted the ground next to where she had sat.

Kao obeyed. Once he was seated, he observed the surroundings around him. They seemed to be sitting on the bank of a small gurgling brook. The moon shone down on the land below. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could get the words out, Zia spoke instead.

"You slept all day. Now we have the entire night."

"Um… don't _you _need sleep?"

"Pfff… nah."

There was a long pause of silence. It wasn't awkward, for Zia was enjoying the beauty of the night while Kao was contemplating how strange Zia was.

Zia broke the silence. "How far did you travel? I hope you didn't run into any dragons on your way."

"Oh, don't worry. It only took me about, oh, I don't know, childhood to adulthood?"

This was met with sympathetic violet eyes. "That doesn't seem fun."

"It wasn't."

"Did you happen to find any exiles?"

"Why?" Kao swallowed.

"Just a question." Kao hoped her smile was sincere. "After all, there was this child exile running around. He seemed dangerous."

_Gack! _

"Yeah. Weird."

"Do you happen to, um, know his name?"

Zia frowned. "Nah. The best news we get all the way over here is gossip. They said his name was Kyliazay Mogtoenanana, but that name just sounds so screwed up we knew it couldn't have been him. Besides, I wouldn't worry about that kid anymore. He's dead."

"WHAT?" _I'm not dead! _Kao thought as his relief of not being known around here melted into shock. _Am I? _

_ Pretty sure you're not. _

"Well, yeah! Some apple farmer killed him. Said he found the kid chomping his apples. Shot him right there and then. Even showed the authorities the body. They burned it then offered him a huge stack of cash and riches. He refused it."

_Ringo! But how…? _

_ Sounds like magic to me. _Au snorted. _Looks like there was more to your little apple farmer daddy than you thought. _

_Awww, shaddup. _

He turned to see Zia's expectant gaze and realized she had been talking to him. "Um, what was that?"

She giggled. "You sure say 'um' a lot. Anyways, I asked you if you were planning to stay. It would be nice to have a friend for once."

"Well, I…"

_Say no! Say no! _Au hissed. _You can't afford any more delays! Go! _

_But Sensei, I don't want to be lonely. Come on, how much harm can there be in making a friend? She can come with me to Platana! _

_There can be a lot of harm! _Another vicious hiss and many more came, but Kao just tuned them out and turned to Zia with a happy smile. "I think it would be great to have a friend. I don't have any either."

"Haha! We're _both _friendless?"

A grin. "Not anymore, Zia!"

"Well, my dad might be an issue, but don't worry. I can work something out for you."

_Issue? _Kao tried to not let this bother him so much.

Zia and Kao got up and began the journey home, filled with talking and giggling.

"Oh come _on, _daddy! We can _totally _afford another mouth to feed! Besides, he doesn't have to be a problem."

"No." The tall, skinny, pale man refused to be budged. His light brown eyes kept sneaking hateful glances at the blonde young man sitting awkwardly in a chair a few feet away as he ran his fingers through his short well-groomed black hair. It was clear that Zia was losing this fight, and that soon Kao would be kicked out and perhaps denied of the privilege to live, judging by the look in Zia's father's eyes. Zia was about to give up when her violet eyes lit up. She stepped closer to her father.

"Daddy! We have plenty of extra rooms. What if we rented one of them out to Kao? He could do free work for you!"

"Hmmm…" Kao lifted his head, a ray of hope lighting up his eyes as he heard this signal that Zia's father was seeing the sense in this.

"Fine." He relented. "But he also has to pay me rent each month." Zia jumped up and down, cheering, while Kao leaped up from his seat, ready to run over to him and thank him a million times. "But wait!" Both young adults stopped. "If he doesn't pay his rent and work…" He swung his head so only Kao could see his murderous expression that also conveyed the message: _Don't you dare lay a finger on my daughter. _

"Yes sir." Kao bowed to him. "And I thank you."

This was met with a snort. "Zia. Take this pond scum to his room."

"Yes daddy!"

"Geez." Kao huffed once he and Zia were out of earshot.

"It's okay. Just do what he says. I'm sure that you two will get along just fine after a while."

"Huh. Yeah right. I think that just by being a _guy _and your _friend _makes me number one on his "People I Want to Murder" list."

Zia laughed.

"So…" Kao looked for a different conversation. "How are you guys so rich? This village doesn't seem to have many opportunities."

"You know how dragons are incapable of mining, yet there are so many mines around the Dragon Kingdom?"

He nodded. "Yes, and they love precious jewels and such."

"Yep. Well, the most profitable business for a human is mining. My dad is the head of the biggest and most successful mining company in the entire Dragon Kingdom. It gets hard on him, since he has to make a bunch of important decisions and all that jazz, but he's considered the richest and most trusted human, making our family trusted too."

_Crap. If I get discovered, not only will I die, but I'll seriously screw up the good reputation of my only friend's family. _

His depressed thoughts were cut off by Zia's cheerful exclamation. "Here's your room! Poke around then come back downstairs. We're going to get your housing plan all figured out."

Once Zia had scampered down the stairs, Kao turned the crystal doorknob to open the glossy red wooden door. When he stepped inside, he noticed that this was not the same room he had slept in last night. This one was much smaller, only about the size of a normal room. The bed was against the right wall on the left side of the room, with the door being in the middle. The floor was white soft carpet; Kao recognized it as genuine animal fur, but what type of animal was a mystery to him. The walls and ceiling were the same as the door. Kao walked over to the bed. It was soft, but had regular sheets, pillows, and blanket. There was a white nightstand next to the bed with one drawer. He continued his search through the room. On the same wall as the bed, a little further down, there was a white bookshelf filled with books he had never heard of. Kao bit his lip as he realized he still had the intelligence of a ten year old. On the other end of the room there was a white wide dresser that took up the entire wall. What met his eyes when he opened a drawer shocked him. Each huge drawer was full of nice looking clothes, better than the ones he had to steal.

"GET DOWN HERE, YOU LAZY WORM!"

Kao quickly chose some black slacks and a light blue cotton shirt and ran down the stairs to face Zia and her raging father.

_Hooooo boy. This out to be FUN. _


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 **

_Okay, okay. I got this; shouldn't be too hard. Just wake up, get dressed, eat, chores and work then go back to bed with eating lunch and dinner somewhere in there. Got it. _ Kao took a deep breath. He would start this schedule tomorrow, and he needed some place to work in the afternoon when he wasn't doing chores for Mr. Divites. Right now he was standing in front of a patched up yet sturdy looking wooden cabin, about twice the size of his room. The light blue paint was chipped, but the large cheery yellow sign with thick red-orange letters above the door was fresh and new. **Tomato Lake Village Eatery, **the sign boldly proclaimed.

"Well," Kao said to himself, checking the slip of paper Zia had handed him on his way out of the house. "This seems to be it." The door creaked open easily when he gently pushed it. Inside, red and light blue clothed tables took up most of the floor space. Loud conversations and the clanking of glasses filled the air as Kao made his way through the floor thick with tables up to the polished wood counter _(Is everything made of wood here? _He thought) where a thick average sized man with bushy eyebrows and dark green hair was wiping the counter.

"Excuse me, sir? Are you the owner of this establishment?"

The man stopped to sweep Kao with his bright orange eyes before chuckling. "What do you think? Did you assume that half-naked chick over there was the owner?" He gestured over to a young lady, who was, in fact, half-naked and surrounded by muscular shirtless men. "Pfff. People like that really ruin the good name of my restaurant. Wish I could just kick them out when they walk in. Tell them to go to the sex bar instead."

Kao squirmed awkwardly. He really didn't want to be talking about this.

"Yeah. Too bad there's a rule against telling prostitutes to go here in Tomato Lake."

"Um?"

The man whom Kao had dubbed as Orange Eyes gave him a weird look. "You're not from here, are you?"

Kao shook his head.

"Well, little boy, you've got a lot to learn if you're going to stay here. Like how Tomato Lake just might be the richest human village you'll ever find, but the people sure are the worst. Murder, vandalism, excessive drinking, drugs, sex, gangs, rape, heck, you name it, we've got it here in Tomato Lake. Heck, that should be our motto."

"Oh, well…" _In the name of the Great Council, how did I end up here of all places?! _

Shocked by what he had just heard, Kao was about to run out of the door and away from Tomato Lake forever when he remember that he had a purpose to come here. "Sir! I came here to apply for a job."

"What job?" Orange Eyes looked up.

"Dishwasher."

"Well! Welcome to the team." He opened up the door to the kitchen and pulled Kao in. "I'm Carrot."

_So much for Orange Eyes. _

"This is the rest of the team. I'm the manager; I also take orders at the counter and I'm the head cook. This here's Firecracker," Carrot nodded to a teenage boy with red hair and black eyes who shyly waved back. "This is Tooth," Tooth was another teenage boy with blue hair and eyes. "And lastly, Glass." Kao looked around, but he couldn't see anyone, so he said so.

"Oh! Glass, come here!" Now Kao could see the employee called Glass. She had flown down from the top of the tall ceiling with white dragon wings. Her short hair was white, as well as her nervous eyes. Long white claws were in place of fingernails and dragon teeth chattered anxiously as she hopped from taloned foot to foot. Carrot leaned over to whisper as Glass flew off to the right. "Everyone's a cook and server except for her. She got the worst of the experiments, so she's my assistant.

This strange statement was met with a blank stare from blue eyes. "That's right." Carrot sighed. "You don't know." Kao felt himself being pushed to the counter with Carrot's thick arm. "Alright. Look at all these people. They all look normal, but if you looked closer, you could tell something's wrong. Maybe weird hair color? Strange eye color? Small tail or perhaps wings?" Kao did notice this. "It's because of the experiments the dragons did on some of us. They tried to "purify" the human race by turning them into dragons. It failed, of course, because you cannot change one species to another. It's the Rule of Species. Anyways, some failed experiments died, and the rest were sent here, such as Glass. In fact, she's the last living one, since everyone else killed the others because the radiation from the experiment changed everyone else. The only people unaffected were the Divites."

Kao swallowed as he thought of Zia's purple eyes, but his thoughts were cut short as Carrot slapped him on the back in a friendly manner. "Well, come on, man? When can you start?!"

"Tomorrow afternoon. I can only work in the afternoons."

"Alright. Works for me. We needed a dishwasher."

He turned back to go home, but before he left, he looked over his shoulder at Carrot. "Hey Carrot?"

"Yeah?"

"Who did they use for the experiments?"

"Children that they stole from families. Pretty barbaric, if you ask me. Why- dude? Hey, wait up! I didn't even catch your name!" But Kao was already out of the door, running home with tears in his eyes, gasping pitifully.


End file.
